City sees fast growth in foreign investment
By Bian Ji (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-31 17:59
Foreign investment in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province, is growing strongly.
Statistics from Harbin Administration for
Industry and Commerce show that 45 new foreign-invested companies were set up in
the first half of the year, increasing 2.27 per cent compared with the same
period of last year.
Total investment value of the new foreign-funded
companies amounted to US$391.63 million during the same period, up 37.24 per
cent year-on-year.
According to the data, investors from 13 countries and
regions funded the new companies. Most of the investors are from Asia.
At present, investors from Asian countries and regions have set up 26
firms in Harbin, accounting for 57.78 per cent of the city's total
foreign-funded firms.
Followed by Japan and the Republic of Korea,
China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region tops the chart of Asian
investors in terms of the number of companies, total investment value and
registered capital.
The investment boom is attributed to the friendly
environment of the city, which boosts the confidence of overseas investors in
their ventures in China, experts said.
So far 11 foreign-invested
companies in the city have made additional investments worth US$56.95 million
and lifted their registered capital.
Analysts said that overseas
companies prefer setting up their operations as a sole investor to ensure
control of their Chinese ventures.
In the first half of the year, 29
foreign wholly-owned companies were added, accounting for more than 64.44 per
cent of the total number of new foreign-invested firms in the city and
increasing 7.41 per cent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, seven Chinese companies
absorbed foreign capital and joined the foreign-invested list.
Through
mergers and acquisitions, on the one hand, foreign investors gained access to
the local market, and on the other hand, injection of overseas capital enhanced
strength of the asset-restructured companies.
For instance, Harbin
Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, one of China's leading medicine makers, raised its
registered capital to 3.7 billion yuan (US$462.5 million), after two overseas
investors began to hold stake in the company last year.
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